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Two Lowell natives killed in Florida crash

By Robert Mills, rmills@lowellsun.com

Updated:
06/21/2009 07:38:57 PM EDT

BAKER COUNTY, Fla. -- Two Lowell natives were killed, and a third was seriously injured, along with a 4-year-old boy, in a horrific single-car crash along a country road in northeastern Florida last week.

The Florida Highway Patrol said Paul Durant, 57, of Pensacola, Fla., was driving north on Country Road 125 near Macclenny, Florida, when his Lincoln Continental left the right side of the road, traveled 174 feet through the grass without breaking or swerving, and then slammed into a large oak tree at about 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Macclenny is in Baker County, about 30 miles west of Jacksonville.

Passengers Gerald P. Ward, of Sanderson, Fla., and formerly of Lowell, and Daniel Burke, 55, of Lowell, both died about four hours after the crash at a Jacksonville hospital where they were flown by medical helicopter.

Durant and 3-year-old Matthew Durant were also flown to the hospital. Police said both suffered serious injuries. Police said Matthew lives with the elder Durant in Pensacola.

Family members could not immediately be reached, but The Baker County Standard reported last week that Fran Ward, Gerald Ward's wife, told the paper all three men grew up in Lowell, and had been friends since they were 3 years old.

All three had just been to a wedding in Lowell, and were on their way back to Ward's house in Sanderson, the newspaper quoted Fran Ward as saying.

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The Florida Highway Patrol said all four people were wearing seat belts, and that it was not immediately clear what caused the crash.

A Florida Highway Patrol report prepared for the press indicated that alcohol was a factor, but The Baker County Standard quoted Fran Ward as saying that a blood test performed at the hospital showed Durant had no alcohol in his system.

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